Monet Water Lilies Bring $54 Million at Sotheby's in London

Nymphéas (1906), a large-scale canvas from Claude Monet's "Water Lilies" series of roughly 250 paintings the artist made of the pond at his Giverny retreat, sold for £31.7 million ($54 million) at Sotheby's Impressionist and modern art sale in London on Monday night. The figure, which comes in just over the lot's £20–30 million estimate, is the second-highest price ever paid for a Monet at auction, falling well short of the artist's record of $80.4 million, set in 2008, also in London and also for a "Water Lilies" painting, when Christie's sold Le Bassin aux Nymphéas for more than double its $36 million low estimate.

Stay tuned for artnet News's full report from Sotheby's June 23 sale of Impressionist and modern art.